GOD & GODDESS

The medieval abbess Hildegard of Bingen said that every creature is a glittering, glistening mirror of divinity.

Dionysius said that everything is a mirror of divinity, everything mirrors God

Theophany is a wonderful word for 'beholding the Divine all around us and within ourselves'

Every living being carries the Light of Creation within itself. This is what en-souls us.

The word 'religion' comes from the Latin word 'religare': a bond, a binding back to something. True religion is the original umbilical cord that binds our individual selves back to a greater, universal source.

The words 'divinity' and 'divine' (sometimes 'Divinity' or 'The Divine') are broadly applied but loosely defined terms. They are used variously within different faiths and belief systems - and even by different individuals within a given faith - to refer to transcendental power or deity, or its manifestations in the world. The root of the word means literally 'godlike' (from the Latin word Deus - God, closely related to Zeus in Greek, Div in Persian and Deva in Sanskrit).

< KHNUM

Khnum (sometimes spelled Khnemu) was an Egyptian Creator Deity. Originally he was 'the god of the course of the Nile River'. The annual flooding of the Nile brought silt and clay. The water of the Nile had great life-giving properties. So Khnum was depicted as seated behind his great potter's wheel, on which he made the bodies of human children from clay and then places them in their mother's womb as embryos. He was also said to have 'moulded' the other deities and his titles were 'Divine Potter'and 'Lord of Created Things From Himself'.

> NYX (MOTHER NIGHT) (71 x 92cm) £495

We call forth Nyx to reclaim our awareness that our original essential nature arises out of formless potentiality embodied by the night (Sjoo & Mor)

< THE MORRIGAN: MISTRESS OF INITIATION (61 x 91 cm) £465

This painting resulted from seeing glimpses of a raven-winged goddess or mistress of initiation. This took me to the Celtic Morrigan. She is, secretly, the goddess of reincarnation as well. She is associated with the hunting falcon that guides the healer in initiation. When the Morrigan is near, the doorway of death is visible. The portal is composed of silver branches creating a doorway against the darkness. Beyond the door lay the worlds of incarnation. She is the thunderhead that descends at death, and the soul which is torn from the body rises through it like lightning. Her body becomes the conduit of death, the stormy pathway of the soul.

> THE CRONE GODDESS

< HIEROS GAMOS

Behind the Veil God and Goddess make love // Birth is the transition from the Womb of God/Goddess into the arms of Woman// Death is a transition from a human body back to the Void, space of Infinite Potential

While sketching this vision I saw the womb as a lemniscate, with the cervix as the knot, the meeting point between worlds.

I saw another lemniscate between the woman's legs, the sacred space where we take our first breath of air and the world we then enter. In my vision this lemniscate became an hour glass filled with star dust: the dimension of time that shapes and cradles a human life.

The umbilical cord remains as a spirit cord, a rainbow connection to the Divine.

> THE NIGHT SEA JOURNEY

Within the body of woman, man descends on a journey into mystery, initiation, revelation: The Night Sea Journey

In our culture milLennia of Judeo-Christian thinking and dominance have "buried" and "pushed into near oblivion" the fact that once upon a time God was Goddess (or God was a Woman as the author Merlin Stone puts it!) and matriarchy, not patriarchy, was the norm. Goddess symbolism is lunar (following the Moon) and cyclical: a constant and eternal transformation between creation and destruction, birth and death, always shape shifting: always seeking renewal and resurrection. The Moon's three phases (new, waxing and old) are often perceived as trinities or triple deities representing the maiden, mature woman and crone. This is often referred to as The Triple Goddess aspect.

The many Paleolithic and Neolithic artifacts found in Europe are often referred to as 'fertility goddesses' in archeological literature, but it must be remembered that Goddesses were Creators of Life and Bringers of Death, not primarily beauties and or wives of male gods in the "supporting role"!

The same thing goes for the general concept 'Mother Goddess' as many goddesses are not mothers and do not carry or represent that aspect. In fact Old Europe worshiped some highly unusual gods and goddesses (to our 'modern' way of thinking anyway): I am thinking here of the 'Bird and Snake Goddess' (see picture) ,the 'Vulture Goddess' or the 'Hedgehog Goddess'... There was also Cardea, the Goddess of the Hinge and wife of two-faced god Janus

Talking about 'God' and 'Gods' one thing we need to address first is how we understand and use the word 'God'. In English 'God' is the name given to a sole deity in monotheism (the Christian God, Jaweh or Allah, are examples of this) or a single deity in polytheism (i.e. a belief system featuring several gods, a pantheon of gods).

Let me explain that on this page I will use the word 'god' in the sense of 'Deity' or 'Divinity', a unique presence allowing space for other Divine Beings to coexist. (Coming from a traditional Roman Catholic upbringing it has taken me some time and personal work to arrive at this world view!)

> MAKE MAKE (H 30.5 cm x W 41 cm) £125

Painting inspired by rock art on Rapanui (Easter Island) depicting the Birdman God 'Make Make' holding the Great Cosmic Egg that contains the world

< CROW WOMAN (61 X 61 cm) £425

I work closely with Crow and often catch glimpses of a Crow Mother or Crow Woman as an expression of the Dark Goddess, related to the Dark Moon, who knows the great feminine secrets of waxing and waning, of Life and of Death

> THE MOTHER OF DREAMS SOLD

This painting was inspired by a dream I had after visiting the Sami people in Northern Norway who are reindeer herders. The Great Reindeer Goddess appeared one night and told me that she is the Mother of Dreams

> THE ABSENCE OF THE DEAD IS THEIR WAY OF APPEARING

Personification of Death (80 x 100 cm) £485

This painting was inspired by a book by Mary Winfrey Trautman, but the actual words in he title are by Simone Weil.

This painting was inspired by a dream where a Great Goddess embodying (or personifying) Death appeared and returned the bodies of dead souls to Mother Earth with immense gentleness and compassion. This way human bodies return to their Ultimate Mother (Mother Earth) and their souls are free to return to the Spirit World and continue their larger cosmic journey.

It was a very powerful dream and I have often seen glimpses of the figure since, as the world moves through Days of Darkness and Dire Beauty.

THE SACRED FEMININE

has become a bit of a buzz word in our day where it taken to mean all positive qualities of women rolled into one: nourishing, gentle, receptive, loving, unselfish, maternal and so forth.

Personally I think it is of dire necessity to honour The Dark Goddess, the "Poison Mother" (who appeared to me in a dream recently), the Death Mother, the Devouring Goddess as well.

And the same thing goes for The Sacred Masculine: if we cannot find honor and find healthy expressions of the Hunter and Warrior, our culture will NOT save many of the conundrums and imbalances our world sees today.

To watch a FREE on-line global seminar where I explore these issues with sacred art students

APOLLO

The story of Apollo at Delphi begins with the god's conquest of the Python. According to some ancient accounts, the Python protected the oracle of Gaia, the mother of the gods and first inhabitant of the site. As described in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Apollo slew the serpent and then spent eight years on leave, in order to cleanse himself. Zeus also played a role in Delphi's mythological construction. Wanting to find the center of the Earth, Zeus sent out two eagles at opposite ends of the Earth. They collided at Delphi, and Zeus concluded Delphi was the "omphalos," or navel of the world. Though Zeus' surveying methods may not be sound, Delphi occupied a special place for the Greeks and their gods. In fact, Delphi's fame later spread well beyond Greece; during the 8th and 7th Centuries BC, the site received Mediterranean-wide recognition as the premier divine oracle. Note: the term "oracle" can be used in three ways. It indicates either: 1) the physical temple site, 2) the person who recites the divine message, also known as a "mantis," or 3) the words the mantis speaks.

The Oracle was perhaps the oldest in Greece and practiced nearly every form of divination. Ancient authors claim that bird-watching and entrail-reading, two of the most popular forms of divination, actually began at Delphi. Delphi was also home to a group of priests who would interpret flames of sacrificial fires, and presided over a kind of divination by the drawing of lots. However, by far the most important form of divination at Delphi came from the preistess of Apollo herself, the Pythia. Apollo himself possessed the Pythia and spoke his enigmatic prophecies directly though her. http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/hymns/index.php?page=apollo

< ANUBIS - THE WEIGHING OF THE HEART CEREMONY SOLD

Ancient Egyptians believed that people accumulated good and bad deeds in their heart during a human lifespan. If people lived a good life then in the the moment of death their heart would be as light as the Feather of Truth that the goddess of Justice, Balance and Divine Order (called Ma'at) wore on her head. Once the mummification process was complete the Ba (or soul) of a person travelled to the Duat (Underworld) for the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony. Their heart was weighed against the Feather of Truth. If the heart was light enough, the person went to a wonderful place in the Afterlife (with Isis and Osiris). If the heart was found too heavy, the goddess Ammut (Devourer or Soul-Eater) would swallow the soul and that would be the end. TheJackal-headed god Anubis performs this ceremony.

Requesting this ceremony makes an excellent shamanic journey as it allows us to find out where we hold grief and resentment in our heart, unwillingness to forgive or make amends, unwillingness to do our inner work and shadow work. If we do this ceremony in a mediation or shamanic journey it means that there is time left in The Land of the Living to work through those psychic burdens and live more lightly.

< THE CROW GODDESS SOARING OVER LONDON (80 X 100 cm) £465

THE WINTER GODDESS (Skaði) Not for sale

One Autumn many years ago I came across a reference to 'the Winter Goddess' and this gave me goose-pimples. I knew I had to paint her and she flowed onto canvas easily. I knew that there had to be swans in this painting and a sea gull too - a reference I could make no sense of. Only then did I do some research and discovered that Skadi) in Nordic Mythology once ended up marrying the god of the sea, Njord. They swapped abodes for a while but were only too happy move back to their own realm. Njord missed the sea in Skaði's "world" of mountains, wolves and endless expanses of snow. Skaði' found the seagulls in Njord's world way too noisy during her days at sea.... Their marriage did not last...

God is most often conceived of as the 'supernatural creator' and 'overseer of the universe'. Theologians have ascribed a variety of attributes to the many different conceptions of God. The most common attributes are: omniscience (infinite knowledge. "knowing everything"), omnipotence (unlimited power, "can do anything"), omnipresence (is everywhere) and omni-benevolence (perfect goodness) and the last ones are eternal and necessary existence.

> THE GOD PAN IN HIS BEEKEEPER MANIFESTATION SOLD

Green Dreams

These days// I dream in green// A wise maiden appears// and promises me a dream// And in that dream within a dream// I meet an ancient bee keeper// He has horns// and a beard// and the hooves of a goat// Says he// The Honeybee tells us how to be// and not to be// that intimate connection between life, death and new life// On that knife's edge// we live and breathe// and that is the knife// the wise maiden wields// Only when I open my eyes// do I realise// that the great god Pan spoke to me// These days I dream in green// and bees accompany me. (Imelda Almqvist 2012)

< CERNUNNOS 80 x 100 cm £525

"At the Sacred Centre, in the Grove of all Worlds, He sits with legs crossed beneath an ancient Oak. Entranced, connecting the three worlds of Earth, Sea, and Sky and the worlds behind the worlds, the God and the Great Tree are One. Immense limbs widespread, stretching into distant sky and starry space. His massive trunk, spine of the Middleworld, is the heart of the Ancient Forest around which all Life, all worlds turn. His limitless root web grows deep into secret earth and Underworld.

Above him the great turning circles of Sun, Moon, and Stars. All around Him subtle movements of the leaves in melodious, singing air. Everywhere the pulsing, gleaming Green awash in drifts of gold and shimmering mist. Beneath Him soft moss creeping over the dark, deep, moist of spawning earth. At His feet the great Cauldron from which the Five Rivers Flow.

Through the forest stillness they come, whispering wings and secret glide, rustling leaves, and silent step, the first Ancestors, the Oldest Animals, to gather around Him: Blackbird, Keeper of the Gate; the Stag of Seven Tines, Master of Time; Ancient Owl, Crone of the Night; Eagle, Lord of the Air, Eye of the Sun; and Salmon, Oldest of the Old, Wisest of the Wise, leaping from the juncture of the Five Springs.

He welcomes them and blesses them, and they honor Him, Cernunnos of the nut brown skin and lustrous curling hair. The god whose eyes flash star-fire, whose flesh is a reservoir of ancient waters, His cells alive with Mystery, original primeval essence.

Naked, phallus erect, He wears a crown of antlers limned in green fire and twined with ivy. In his right hand the Torq of gold, testament of his nobility and his sacred pledge. In his left hand the horned serpent, symbol of his sexual power sacred to the Goddess. Cernunnos(2) in His Ancient Forest, His Sacred Temple, His Holy Grove, Cernunnos and His children dream the Worlds."

J.M. Reinbold, author of CERNUNNOS

< LILITH NOT FOR SALE

"My name is Lilith, Handmaiden of the Unknown//I am a Goddess of Darkness//Darkness as a source of Growth and Creativity//What people refused to see in themselves//Was projected onto me over countless centuries//And so I am much feared and demonized as a “dark goddess”//My name is Lilith//I give Voice//To Dreams, Passion and Sexuality//To the Dialogue between You and Your Soul//I reach out to your Authentic Self//Implore you to explore the Timeless Mysteries//What stops you from being all you can be???//Why are you here?//What is your Sacred Path?//WHO ARE YOU???//Lilith offers no answers but Lilith asks questions//Lilith insists that you pursue//True Wisdom not Ego-fed Knowledge// That you row your spirit your spirit boat//Beyond your Fear of the Unknown//Even beyond your Fear of Death//To connect with your instinctive passion for Life//Your Inner Knowing//This natural force turns destructive when denied/caged/exiled//This is why I have been demonized//Lilith does not support bondage to the self or to others//My name is Lilith, I am a Goddess of Darkness//I invite you to enter my womb and emerge reborn…"

All paintings on this page were created by stepping outside myself, pushing aside my waking mind and my ego, and allowing powers greater than myself to come forth. I hope that these paintings and the Deities or Divinities they embody will resonate with you.

< HECATE (71 x 92 cm) £495

The great goddess Hecate is traditionally a dark goddess, a goddess of transition and transformation, a great psycho pomp and guide for all healers, seers, midwives and shamanic practitioners.

Other epithets are: Mistress of the Crossroads, Queen of the Night, Goddess of Magic and Enchantment, Dog of the Moon, Phosphorescent Angel. Hecate is a torch bearing moon goddess who wears a gleaming head dress of stars, lighting the way into the vast past of our origins and the depths of our inner being...

Hecate is also every woman's potential as a witch/medium/healer/seer. She is the archetypal shaman moving between worlds, she looks three ways at once...

> TACUTSI Goddess of Life 80 x 100 cm £650

Tacutsi Aramara, the Goddess of Life, is the Mother Goddess of the Huichol People. From her have sprung all life forms; humans, animals and plants. Tacutsi teaches a way of life that resonates with the gods.

< CHIRON (71 x 92 cm) £450 (Centaur and Archetypal Wounded Healer)

Chiron (or Kheiron) was the eldest and wisest of the centaurs, a tribe of of half-horse men. However, unlike the rest of the tribe he was an immortal god, a son of the Titan Kronos (Chronos) which makes him a half-brother of Zeus. Chiron's mother was the nympth Philyra. She was having sexual intercourse with Kronos when his wife appeared on the scene unexpectedly. To escape her attention, Kronos shape shifted into a horse and this is how he came to sire a half-equine son. Chiron/Kheiron's name was derived from the Greek word for hand (kheir), which also meant 'skilled with the hands'. The name was also closely associated in myth with the word 'kheirourgos' or surgeon. (In my mothertongue, Dutch, we say 'chirurg', which stays vey close to the classical Greek!)

One day Chiron attended a dinner given by the Centaurs for Hercules (Herakles). A fight broke out and Chiron was wounded in the knee by a poisoned arrow (dipped in hydra-venom). As a child of a god, Chiron was immortal, so the wound did not kill him. However, the wound did not heal and caused him great suffering. To use a modern phrase you could say that he found himself in a Catch 22: he could not heal from his wound and he could not die either. In the end Herculus (Herakles) worked out a deal... The Titan God Prometheus had been chained to a rock by Zeus. This was his punishment for having stolen fire from Olympia as a gift to mortals. Daily Zeus's eagle would come and eat Prometheus's liver. At night the liver would heal and history repeated itself every day following. As stipulated by Zeus, Prometheus could only be released if a mortal offered to take his place and went to Tartarus. This meant being giving up the status of an immortal and that meant dying. Chiron took his place and eventually managed to die (and so escape his wound). Chiron has been honoured in the night sky for the constellation Centaurus was named after him.

Before his death Chiron became a master physician, teacher, prophet and musician. One significant detail in the story is that through his own quest for personal healing, his ability to heal and teach others grew!

< THE DESCENT OF INANNA 61 x 61 cm £350

The ancient Sumerian poem, The Descent of Inanna (c. 1900-1600 BCE) tells the story of great goddess and Queen of Heaven Inanna’s journey to The Great Below, The Land of the Dead, The Dark City from where no one returns, to visit her recently sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Kur/Underworld because her husband Gugulanna (The Bull of Heaven) has died. (Inanna is linked to planet Venus and Gugulanna to star constellation Taurus in our night sky). The poem opens with the famous line:

From the Great Above she opened her ear to the Great Below...

> THE DOVE GODDESS (61 x 61 cm) £375

Aphrodite in her rarely mentioned manifestation of Death Goddess

> THE MOIRAE OR FATES OF GREEK COSMOLOGY (61 x 61 cm) £425

The Moirae (or Morai) in Greek mythology were the goddesses of fate who personified the destiny of man. They assigned every person their fate or share in life. Their name means "parts", "shares" or "allotted portions". Klotho - the Spinner - spins the thread of life. Lachesis - the Apportioner - measures the thread of life. Atropos - "She Who Cannot Be Turned" - cut the thread of life.

Plato's Tale of Er: In Book X of his "Republic", Plato wove a tale describing the reincarnation of souls. The myth envisaged a cosmos enclosed in eight concentric spheres, as a model of the heavens. Each sphere had its own distinctive colour and musical note.

The eighth note was the same as the first, but an octave higher; all eight, sounded together, produced the Music of the Spheres.

(Quote from Er)

"And on each of its circles was seated a Siren on the upper side, carried round, and uttering a single sound on one pitch. But the whole of them, being eight, compassed a single harmony within the seven intervals."

< THE GREAT FOREST MOTHER NOT FOR SALE

This painting came out of a vision I had after reading about women in a different ('stone age') era suckling motherless animals, as captured bear cubs still do today among the Ainu of Japan. This is The Great Forest Mother who cares about all life, in human or animal form. All life is sacred, she imposes no hierarchy on life forms. This goddess is sometimes called the Lady of Wild Beasts.

> THE REINDEER GODDESS (71 x 92 cm) £525

The Reindeer Goddess was worshipped by the ancient people of the Arctic. She was the mother of all reindeer. She gave birth to deer, to human beings on osccasion and to the universe. She was known by different names in different parts of the arctic region: Mistress of Wild Animals (Kola Sami people), Bugady - Mother of the Universe (Evenki people in Siberia), Rozhanitsa - Mother Goddess of the North (Russia, 12th century). For the Sami people of Lapland, the Reindeer Goddess is linked to the Sun Goddess, Bejijenneite.

< THE EYE GODDESS (61 x 91 cm) £395

According to Marija Gimbutas the (West European) Eye Goddess is known almost exclusively from sepulchral artifacts: symbolic markings on monuments and figurines. A related motif is that of the 'radiating sun', often interpreted as a radiant Divine Eye. I came across these references while contemplating the fact that in quantum physics the existence of an observer has an impact on the outcome of an experiment. In shamanic work certain procedures need to be observed for them to take effect. Last but not least I stumbled across a photograph of a butterfly whose wings have big eye type markings on them to scare off predators. The 'Queen of Coincidence' bringing me all these offerings, resulted in this painting of The Eye Goddess.

> THE BIRD SNAKE GODDESS

The Bird-Snake Goddess was described by Marija Gimbutas in her books about the gods and goddesses of Old Europe. She perceived differences between the Old European system, which she considered goddess- and woman-centered (gynocentric), and the Bronze Age Indo-European patriarchal ("androcratic") culture which supplanted it. According to her interpretations, gynocentric (or matristic) societies were peaceful, honored women, and espoused economic equality.

< THE PEACOCK GODDESS (61 x 91 cm) £425

(Covered in all-seeing compassionate eyes)

The Hindu religion has a story about Krisha and a never-healing wound. In his growth to manhood, Krisha would tantalise the cow-girls, making love to them and breaking their hearts. The gods and goddesses decided to teach him a lesson. They covered his skin with aching, yearning vaginae, like those of his rejected lovers. This caused him such agony that he asked the deities for forgiveness and promised not to behave like that again. They took pity on him and turned the vaginae into the irridescent 'eyes' of a peacock's tail feathers.

Krishna was given the choice of not becoming the peacock (as that would lead to more strutting and self-inflation!). Instead his whole skin became like a rainbow, alive and open. He acquired the gift of 'seeing with his skin'. In other words: those openings became 'creative wounds'. Those spots in his skin never healed, but instead they remained soft and open, a gateway to new experiences and opportunities. - This story informed my vision of the Peacock Goddess, as I saw her in 2011

V THE MISTRESS OF WHAT IF SOLD

Vision I had in Santa Fe in 2013, of a mysterious Mistress of all those occasions, those forks in the Road of Life, when we say: what if.... or "if only"......

Imelda Almqvist's SCHOOL OF SACRED ART & SHAMANISM

Copyright 2019

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